1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of information processing in a distributed computer environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a system for creating and executing computer software applications utilizing multiple web browser components that access information stored on servers.
2. Description of the Related Technology
For many businesses, greater access to computers was realized with the introduction of personal computers (PCs) at affordable prices. Additionally, with the emergence of standardized software and graphical user interfaces, which made computers more user friendly, even small businesses were able to take over their own computer processing. “Multi-tasking” became a buzzword of the early 1990s as technology allowed multiple software applications to be executed simultaneously on a single operating system of the PC. Thus, for example, while business reports were processing, a user can answer e-mail or enter information into a database. Consequently, businesses became largely technologically self-sufficient.
Computing technology has revolutionized conventional businesses, but never more so than with the inception of the Internet. Commerce has drawn millions of people to the Internet. Tales of overnight success and self-made millionaires only add weight to the fact that the Internet can maximize a company's customer base with minimal cost. The Internet, through its well known World Wide Web (WWW or “the web”) provides an extensive network of linked electronic pages, which usually are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). A user wishing to access the web needs only a PC equipped with a modem and a software application known as a web browser (such as, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer). A web browser is configured to establish a communications link via the Internet to other computers known as web servers, and to receive information from those servers. The information retrieved is then displayed to the user. Users have primarily accessed the Internet in order to find information (e.g., a child researches monkeys on a zoo's web site for a school report), communicate (e.g., letters are sent across the globe in minutes via electronic mail), or conduct business (e.g., virtually anything can be purchased or sold on the web).
However, Internet technology has remained rather linear in the way users access web pages. To illustrate, typically for a user to access a web page (i.e., an electronic page residing on the web), the web browser must draw the contents of the web page on the screen. The user then performs a task on that page, closes it, and then accesses the next web page, which the browser must draw to the screen. If information is incorrect or missing from a web page, the user must reload the web page, which then must be redrawn to the screen. This process of accessing and drawing web pages can be time consuming and, hence, impractical where a task to be accomplished requires accessing more than a few web pages.
Consider, for example, a payroll system. A typical payroll system would most likely contain the following elements: data entry (e.g., employees' personal information, or time that each employee has worked), performance of calculations to create payroll data, printing of payroll checks, printing of supporting reports, and providing accounting for taxing entities. Performing these tasks on the Internet is highly impractical due to the large amount of idle time spent accessing and drawing web pages. Thus, what is needed in the art is a system that provides faster access to a multiplicity of electronic pages stored in remote servers, such as those that make up the Internet.